Mostly about my backyard chickens. (Boring, I know), but there are a lot of us out here. Mine are only kept as pampered pets. I could eat a neighbor's chicken, but not MINE. There may be a comment on current events only if I get riled up enough. And there will always be a cartoon or a joke to cheer us. I promise to try my very best to respond to comments. Now I have to figure out how this blogger thingy works....

Monday, June 9, 2014

Tickles my funny bone!

Just love this one!

But....sometimes this automata stuff is really, really dangerous!

Victorian strangeness: The man killed by an automaton

Author Jeremy Clay tells the grisly story of the Victorian man killed by a bell-chiming automaton.

There was no need for Sherlock. The killer didn't flee the
scene. He stood his ground over the lifeless body of his victim, his
hand still gripping the bloody weapon, his face betraying no emotion.
At the feet of the mechanised figure of a person - which was
to have struck the hour with a hammer - lay Mr Maybrook. Poor,
blameless, bludgeoned Mr Maybrook. At least the end, when it came, was
swift. Swift, and absurd.
Mr Maybrook was a man of independent means, according to the
report in the Illustrated Police News, who was travelling for his own
pleasure in the German province of Silesia.

That winter's day in 1876 his
wanderlust brought him to a historic church in the town of Glogau. The
verger offered to show him round, but was called away during the tour,
leaving the visitor alone in the clock tower.

Mr Maybrook wasn't too bothered. The clock was an ornate
affair with carved automatons that chimed the passing hours. Left to his
own devices, this was a chance to indulge his curiosity and examine the
workings at close quarters. He was enthralled by the intricate
mechanism. So enthralled, in fact, that he was oblivious to the ominous
whirring sound that signalled the wooden figures were about to spring
into action.
What followed was a scene that even an author of badly written whodunits would dismiss as implausible.
Suddenly, one of the figures struck the great bell. The
startled Mr Maybrook jumped back in surprise. It was the last thing he
would ever do.
"He came directly within the range of a huge hammer wielded
by another automaton," said the paper, "which descended on the head of
the unfortunate and ill-fated traveller."
The verger returned from his errand to find his guest in a
pool of blood inside the clock. Well, when your time's up, your time's
up.

About Me

Mostly about my backyard chickens (Boring, I know), but there are a lot of us out here. Mine are only kept as pampered pets. I could eat a neighbor's chicken, but not MINE. There may be a comment on current events only if I get riled up enough. And there will always be a cartoon or a joke to cheer us. I promise to try my very best to respond to comments. Now I have to figure out how this blogger thingy works....